Triangular lined carton



1961 H. ALEXANDER EIAL 3,005,525

TRIANGULAR LINED CARTON 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 10, 1960 I H m m 2. W, I b N 3 c '0 2 c 2 d HAM Hum/2E4 75m Huff OL/ELL.

Oct. 31, 1961 H. ALEXANDER EIAL 3,006,526

' TRIANGULAR LINED CARTON Filed Feb. 10, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I cl d x a- E B 3 2 FIG. 3

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Oct. 31, 1961 H. ALEXANDER ETAL 3,006,526

TRIANGULAR LINED CARTON Filed Feb. 10, 1960 1 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dun/foes H6447 um/052 In! A l/(u Kweu.

United States Patent 3,006,526 TRIANGULAR LINED CARTON Harry Alexander, 78 Station Road, New Bar-net, and John Hugh Powell, 19 Chesham St., London, England Filed Feb. 10, 1960, Ser. No. 7,860 Claims priority, application Great Britain Feb. 18, 1959 5 Claims. (Cl. 229-22) This invention relates to cartons of the kind which can be transformed from a flat folded collapsed condition, into an erected tubular condition ready to receive the contents.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved carton of this nature having a liner or end closure of flexible material, the whole being arranged such that erection of the relatively stiffer self-supporting carton portion automatically causes erection or at least partial development of the liner or end closure.

According to the present invention, a lined or partiallylined carton comprises a carton portion having four panels hingedly joined along their longitudinal edges and movable, from a flat collapsed tubular condition to a triangular-prism erected tubular condition, by movement apart of one adjacent pair of panels until they lie in the same plane and constitute a first deformable prism wall, and by opening movement of the other adjacent pair of panels to constitute two other prism walls, and a flat bag of flexible material of approximately the same width as the collapsed carton portion disposed therein and secured by its walls to points at least of the carton portion which move apart during erection, the length of projection of the bag beyond the points of securing being suflicient to permit full erection of the carton portion.

The carton portion may be composed of full walls of sheet material and forming part of an entire enclosure for the bag, or it may be a frame serving to contain the bag and reinforce it, or again it may serve as a jacket to retain the bag in a sustained position.

In a convenient form, the deformable wall of the carton simply folds about a line parallel to its longitudinal edges, the folds passing outwardly or inwardly with respect to the other two walls.

Preferably the bag is secured to the carton portion at least at the ends of the mutually remote longitudinal edges of said other pair of panels, and may be secured to such panels over their entire area.

The bag projects beyond the points of securing to the panels, and depending on the shaping and dimensions of this projecting portion, there will be a fold of surplus bag material formed upon erection of the carton portion. By suitable choice of shape and dimensions this surplus fold can be made able to lie flat against the end-forming area of the bag without over-lapping the edges of the latter. For example, where the deformable wall simply hinges centrally and longitudinally, the length of the bag projecting beyond the securing points is made equal to half of the width of the deformable Wall, i.e. equal to the width of one of the latters panels. This results in a triangular surplus fold, capable of lying flat, which may conveniently serve as a pouring spout for the contents of the carton.

The carton portion may include end flaps on its panels capable of bending over to close the end of the tube formed.

For example, the end-flaps of each associated pair of panels may together form a triangular end wall for the carton. The projecting portion of the bag may be secured to said end flaps at least at their free edges.

The panels of the deformable wall may carry a relatively shorter flap, whilst the other two panels each carry "ice a relatively longer triangular end flap corresponding to the cross-sectional area of the tubular body.

Any two or more of such end flaps may be secured together, or coupled, such that the movement of one such flap automatically causes movement of the associated flap or flaps and the closing of the carton is accordingly facilitated.

The other end of the carton, erg. the end into which the contents would be introduced at the time of filling, may have similar flaps to which suitably spaced points of the (open-ended) bag could be secured so as to hold the latter conveniently open for the filling operation.

Such a carton portion, with end flaps, may be generally un-lined but have a projecting flexible bag secured thereto to form an end closure. In a preferred form the bag is secured to the end flaps at least at their free edges and projects from the end of the panels by a distance equal to half of the maximum separation of the mutually remote edges of the other pair of panels, such the bag material is pulled across the end of the carton as the latter reaches erected condition.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, an embodiment of lined carton in accordance therewith is hereinafter particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a flat blank from which the carton is formed.

FIG. 2 shows the carton blank folded in half and gummed to provide a collapsible tube.

FIG. 3 shows a liner bag for inclusion in the carton.

FIG. 4 shows the relative positions and dimensions of the liner bag in the collapsible carton.

FIG. 5 is an elevation of the lined carton in halferected condition.

FIG. 6 is an underplan corresponding to FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an elevation of the lined carton fully erected.

FIG. 8 is an underplan corresponding to FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an underplan, corresponding to FIG. 7, but wherein the end-flap has been closed over the carton end.

The carton 1, made of any suitable stiif self-supporting material such as cardboard, is cut as a blank (FIG. 1) from bulk strip material, and is assembled to collapsed tubular form (FIG. 2) by hinging at edge 2, between major panels B and C, and by hinging at edge 3 between minor panels D and E. Flap A is gummed internally to panel E. The hinged wall constituted by minor panels D and E has a relatively short end-flap e, d and e d at the respective ends, and the other panels have respective relatively longer end-flaps c and b, and c and b When the tubular state (FIG. 2) is reached a flap c is secured to the adjacent end-flap b The liner is constituted by a bag 4 (FIG. 3) made of flexible heat-sealable material such as polyvinylchloride or polyethylene. Conveniently this material is obtained as lay-flat tubing which needs only to be sealed across one end, as shown by the broken line 5, and then parted off. The width of the bag, when flat, corresponds to the width of the body, measured between the hinge lines 2, 3. The bag is disposed wi-thin the collapsed carton and is secured by adhesive to the inside surface of the carton over its whole periphery, and to the end flaps b 0 d and e Part of the bag projects at 6 beyond the securing line and the length x of the projection is equal to the width y of each half of the foldable Wall, i.e. of panels d and e. The part '6 of the bag is shaped so as to provide a square at the end of the panels D, E, and the remainder is a rectangle cut ofi along a line 7 corresponding to the edges of the end flaps b 0 If opposed inward forces are applied to the edges 2, 3, as shown by the arrows in FIG. 4, the tube passes through various lozenge-like cross-sections until the panels D and E and their end flaps have become aligned in the same plane. FIG. 5 illustrates a half-way stage in this process, and it can be seen that the united end flaps b c are moving towards an eventual position in which they are in the same plane across the end of the triangular section of the erected tube. Simultaneously, the separating movement of the edges 8, 9 (FIG. 6) causes the projecting bag matefialto be drawn inwardly as at 10 (FIG. 5). When the erecting movement has been completed (FIG. 7), the end flaps e d seen edge-on in the same plane, have a triangular double-walled tongue 11 secured to. the flaps by one of its walls and lying generally flat against the flaps. The end-flaps 12 c have passed into the end-plane of the carton, and cover its end.

A final closing operation is performed by folding endfiaps d 2 and their liner tongue 11, through 90 as shown by the arrows in FIG. 7, to lie across the end of the car-ton, in which position they can be secured to endflaps b c It will be appreciated that when opening the carton, the final closure movement described above can be reversed, and the end-flaps d e and their liner tongue 11 cut across say at 12 to provide a convenient pouring spout for contents.

It will be seen that the liner material can be secured and remain secured over the entire internal surface of the panels B, C, D and E in FIG. 4, and of end-flaps e b and d Accordingly, the carton need not be fully lined and the same manner of operation will be obtained if the bag passes only partially up the carton, or if the flexible material is limited to the part of the bag lying below the lower end of panels B, C, D, and E, in FIG. 4, or even to thestill smaller approximately triangular exteriial area between end-flaps e and b in FIG. 4, it being assumed that such external area of bag material was secured at its edges to the edges of end-flaps e and b (and also c and d In any of these latter three variations, the bag becomes either a partial liner serving also as an end-closure for the carton, or simply an end-closure.

We claim:

1. A carton comprising, in combination, two major side panels, two minor side panels, said panels being foldably connected at their longitudinal edges with said minor panels being joined together and being joined to said major panels which are also joined together, said panels being movable from a flat position in which said minor panels lie alongside each other in the same plane to an erected position in which said minor panels swing apart through 180 to again lie inthe same plane, triangular end flaps foldazbly connected to the lower ends of said major panels and to each other, the unjoined edges of each of said triangular end flaps being equal in length to the width of one of said minor panels, the unjoined edges of each of said triangular end flaps forming an angle of with the edges of said triangular end flaps which are joined to each other, two triangular minor end flaps foldably joined to the lower ends of said minor panels, said minor end flaps being foldably joined to each other, the joined edges of each of said minor end flaps forming an angle of 90, and a flexible end closure sealed to the unjoined edges of said end flaps and said minor end flaps, said end closure extending beyond the lower ends of said panels a distance equal to the width of one of said minor end panels.

2. The combination according to claim 1 wherein said major side panels form an 'angle of 90 to each other when said side panels are in an erected position.

3. The combination according to claim 2 with the addition of a tubular liner of the width of a major and a minor panel, said liner terminating in said end closure.

4. The combination according to claim 3 wherein said tubular liner is at least as long as said side panels and is fixed to the side edges of said side panels.

5. The combination according to claim 4 with the addition of two additional minor end flaps foldably connected to the upper ends of said minor side panels, said additional minor end flaps being foldably connected to each other, the joined edges of each of said additional minor end flaps forming an angle of 90, and two additional major end flaps foldably joined to the upper edges of said major side panels, each of said additional major end flaps being of the same configuration as a crosssection through said side panels in an erected condition.

7 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,227,341 Greenwood Dec. 31, 1940 2,879,933 Bergstein et a1. Mar. 31, 1959 2,935,192 De Millian-Czarnecki May 3, 1960 

